Dearests,
Well, it has been a busy couple of weeks and between day job dramas, family commitments and extensive watching of King of the Hill I haven’t found a minute to blog until now.
I do however, have plenty to be cheerful about as I am now approaching the last push on my Jackalope act. When last I wrote I had finally faced my fears about dying my corset. Since then, costuming has come on steadily. I have finished my bra, which turned out to be no mean feat. I wanted to exchange the standard back clasp for a front fastening closure (I probably should have done that before I covered the cups of the bra – just incase I botched it up and put my hard work to waste). I began with this just being fastened by ribbon but I soon realised that my mighty bosom was not going to be contained by something as flimsy as a pretty bow. So I ended up adding a small hook and eye closure to the bra and using the ribbon to hide it. I then covered the back strap and I have to say I am delighted with the results. I am still hoping to add a halter strap to the bra for a little extra support but haven’t yet found any ribbon or other material that would be suitable so I am going to wait and see how that pans out.
My music is also now finished and edited. Music selection for me is always a relatively complex process. Unless the music was the original starting point or inspiration for the act I often find I am choosy to the point of being pedantic. Originally, back many, many months ago I had about a week where all I did in my spare time was listen to and compare potential tracks for this act. I probably listened to a couple of hundred easily (no exaggerating) and made shortlists and pared those lists down and re-listened again. Back in November I finally chose a track which I really liked and another track which I cut into a one minute section to precede it. However, I found that, although I liked the track and the overall mood was appropriate, I just couldn’t make the choreography and narrative fit to it. A couple of months ago I resigned myself to search for another track and perhaps cut down my main track and still have a little of it at the end. I found something that worked really nicely but it fit better at the end of the act, much better than my original selection. So this left me in a position of having a little short intro bit that worked and an end bit that worked but no middle! Finally, about six weeks ago I found the perfect track for the middle part of my act. The music describes the action so perfectly that the choreography for that part of the act has almost written itself as the music holds all the cues. So, after running my final line up past a couple of people whose opinion I value I went ahead and edited the three together. What music did I pick? Well, you’ll have to wait ‘til the act is debuted to find that out but lets just say it has been a labour of love choosing!
As well as getting the work done on my bra, on Saturday I also received my finished antlers from Haus of Emerald (aka my sister). Unlike the last pair (the less said about them the better – I’m going to wait till December and then try to ebay them for Christmas purposes) these are light as a cloud and they look superb. I spent some time on Sunday mounting them into my wig (to my delight I didn’t have to cut the wig after all as they just threaded in the gaps between wefts– one less thing to worry about) and then moulded the base inside the wig to hold them steady. They look great although they still need a little tweaking to get the angle right – it’s hard mounting two tall antlers into a wig when you only have two pairs of hands and a limited time before the plastic sets!
So… just the last push left to go now. I am waiting on my gloves which are on order and will need tea dying when they arrive. I need to get hold of an old chest or trunk. My local car boot has stuff like this all the time but it would be just my luck that they won’t have one now for ages as now I need one! I still need to work on my choreography but that is getting there steadily. The last real making jobs are making my pasties, doing my ears, which I want to look aged and ratty and not ‘party costume’ looking, and covering my skirt. This one is going to be a pretty big job due to the size of the skirt and the fact that I want to cover at least some of it with home felted raw wool. I’ll let you into a secret: The people who say that felting is a fun hobby are fibbing! Felting is a big pain in the butt and it takes ages and your hands go all pruney in the process. So the skirt is probably going to take a while longer yet, but I am trying to do a bit at a time to make a dent in it.
So I am hoping that my Jackalope might be in the finishing stages sometime in June at which point I hope to get some promo photos done and then start pimping it out. Keep your eyes peeled because no doubt any Jackalope news will be here first!
‘Til next time
X
Emerald
Showing posts with label Antlers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Antlers. Show all posts
Wednesday, 28 April 2010
Wednesday, 3 March 2010
Getting Back on the Horse (or should that be Jackalope?)
Dearests,
After a very prickly period working on my Jackalope act (see the previous post to see how prickly!) I have dusted myself off and got back on the horse and things seem to be progressing forward, finally.
The big problems I had with this act were the antlers and the wig(s). In the antler situation I did not have the heart in the end to request a refund from the chap who made them – he obviously tried his best. So I went to my sister’s and had a chat with her other half who has a degree in product design. I told him about the prop maker’s idea of moulding some sort of cap to go under the wig which the antlers could be bolted onto. He immediately started Googling and came up with this:
http://www.maplin.co.uk/searchtemplate.asp?criteria=POLYMORPH%20PLASTIC
It’s called Polymorph and if I remember my secondary school DT classes then it’s a low temperature thermoplastic plastic. Meaning it can be moulded when you heat it up in hot water.
The original plan was to make the cap out of this and mould it around my head (!). However, my sister came up with an even smarter idea – to mould a new pair of antlers out of the Polymorph. She kindly went away and knocked me up a small prototype and I was pleasantly surprised. The Polymorph is strong and durable with a tiny bit of flexibility so it isn’t brittle (although it moulds to itself very easily so if an antler did break it would only need heating up a little to repair). It is also unfeasibly light. Sis brought the antler over wrapped in bubble wrap and when she handed it to me I thought she had had a brainstorm and forgot to put the antler inside the wrap! That’s how light it was.
So Sis is now beavering away with her ‘House of Emerald’ project to produce me antlers version 2 (in reality it’s actually version 5, I think, if you count the attempts I made myself with wire and papier mache etc some months ago) and I am optimistic about the results. Keep your fingers crossed for me!
On the wig front there have been mixed results. The woman who I paid to send me the wigs has still not responded to my emails or sent out the wigs so I requested a refund. As I am sure you are not surprised to hear, I have not received that refund and the wigs still have not been sent. At the end of my tether with the whole thing, I decided to open a dispute with Paypal to reclaim my money. Paypal said that because more that 45 days had passed they wouldn’t help me – I was on my own. This was frustrating. For an international service when the seller is a third party middle man between you and another company 45 days is not always going to be long enough to know there is a problem. So I contacted Barclays to ask them to do a Visa Chargeback. They were quite happy to help me until they found out I had paid via Paypal, at which point they said it was not their problem and that Paypal should help me (ha!) but not until they had passed me around and kept me on hold for 25 minutes. I spoke to Trading Standards who said that it was out of their jurisdiction as the site is US based and finally I contacted the Better Business Bureau which is, apparently, the American equivalent of Trading Standards. They are now chasing her up but they may have no luck as one of the posters on the forum who recommended the wig lady told me that since having the baby she has moved and not given a forwarding business address!
So I am a bit stuck with these wigs – people on the forum keep assuring me that she will get round to sending the wigs/refunding me eventually but either way I would never use this seller again. Slow delivery I can just about deal with but neglecting to respond to any correspondence just shows an absolute lack of regard for the customer and makes me fuming!
On a more positive note though, this whole debacle meant I ended up getting the wigs elsewhere and I have been delighted with the product and the service. Even though I had found a couple of US based sites that sold the same wig and would ship to the UK, I decided not to go with them as time has been ticking on while this woman has fannied around. I thought a UK site might speed up the process so I went with www.annabelleswigs.co.uk . I was aware of Annabelle’s from Ministry of Burlesque forum as Claire who runs the site is a poster on MoB so I thought I would give them a try. If nothing else I knew she would be contactable if anything went wrong! I ended up calling the shop as I had a few questions before I bought and I ended up having a lovely chat with Claire and bought two wigs and some weft extensions (the idea being I could use the wefts if I needed to bulk out the wig and I also had a spare that I could use if the original went wrong!). I had them sent to my day job address and, after ordering on Friday, when I came in yesterday they had arrived (I think they came on Monday while I was off).
The wigs are gorgeous quality, they feel so silky and full – I may not even need the extra wefts (though it’s good to have them just in case). So last night I cracked on with styling one for my Jackalope. I have a source photograph of what I want it to look like and a few basic tips I have picked up from trawling Google and Cosplay.com but apart from that I’m on my own. I have wanted to have a go at wig styling for so long now but when I sat with my wig pinned to the stand and my tail comb in hand I have to admit I felt a certain amount of trepidation. It is possible I could be in the process of ruining a perfectly good wig here! On the other hand; nothing ventured, nothing gained, and since I don’t have the opportunity to go on a wig styling course self-taught will have to be the order of the day. The style I have picked for the wig is not something that involves a great deal of advanced technique and as it is a messy style there is plenty of room for mistakes – pinpoint accuracy is not paramount. However, I have been taking it slowly, working on the wig patiently and in very small sections. So far it is taking shape in roughly the way I want it to but I know that the parts at the front on the brow and the sides will be the hardest bit and also the most visible (I started at the bottom-back so that any mistakes I made whilst finding my stroke would be hidden under the rest of the wig!).
So wish me luck with the wig styling! I am taking pictures as I go and I will post them all into the blog with some step by step notes once the piece is finished. I found wig styling tutorials and advice a little thin on the ground so I want to share my experiences and let people know what worked for me and what didn’t. Also, if anyone has any wig styling advice they would like to share with me I will be all ears!
‘Til next time
X
Emerald
After a very prickly period working on my Jackalope act (see the previous post to see how prickly!) I have dusted myself off and got back on the horse and things seem to be progressing forward, finally.
The big problems I had with this act were the antlers and the wig(s). In the antler situation I did not have the heart in the end to request a refund from the chap who made them – he obviously tried his best. So I went to my sister’s and had a chat with her other half who has a degree in product design. I told him about the prop maker’s idea of moulding some sort of cap to go under the wig which the antlers could be bolted onto. He immediately started Googling and came up with this:
http://www.maplin.co.uk/searchtemplate.asp?criteria=POLYMORPH%20PLASTIC
It’s called Polymorph and if I remember my secondary school DT classes then it’s a low temperature thermoplastic plastic. Meaning it can be moulded when you heat it up in hot water.
The original plan was to make the cap out of this and mould it around my head (!). However, my sister came up with an even smarter idea – to mould a new pair of antlers out of the Polymorph. She kindly went away and knocked me up a small prototype and I was pleasantly surprised. The Polymorph is strong and durable with a tiny bit of flexibility so it isn’t brittle (although it moulds to itself very easily so if an antler did break it would only need heating up a little to repair). It is also unfeasibly light. Sis brought the antler over wrapped in bubble wrap and when she handed it to me I thought she had had a brainstorm and forgot to put the antler inside the wrap! That’s how light it was.
So Sis is now beavering away with her ‘House of Emerald’ project to produce me antlers version 2 (in reality it’s actually version 5, I think, if you count the attempts I made myself with wire and papier mache etc some months ago) and I am optimistic about the results. Keep your fingers crossed for me!
On the wig front there have been mixed results. The woman who I paid to send me the wigs has still not responded to my emails or sent out the wigs so I requested a refund. As I am sure you are not surprised to hear, I have not received that refund and the wigs still have not been sent. At the end of my tether with the whole thing, I decided to open a dispute with Paypal to reclaim my money. Paypal said that because more that 45 days had passed they wouldn’t help me – I was on my own. This was frustrating. For an international service when the seller is a third party middle man between you and another company 45 days is not always going to be long enough to know there is a problem. So I contacted Barclays to ask them to do a Visa Chargeback. They were quite happy to help me until they found out I had paid via Paypal, at which point they said it was not their problem and that Paypal should help me (ha!) but not until they had passed me around and kept me on hold for 25 minutes. I spoke to Trading Standards who said that it was out of their jurisdiction as the site is US based and finally I contacted the Better Business Bureau which is, apparently, the American equivalent of Trading Standards. They are now chasing her up but they may have no luck as one of the posters on the forum who recommended the wig lady told me that since having the baby she has moved and not given a forwarding business address!
So I am a bit stuck with these wigs – people on the forum keep assuring me that she will get round to sending the wigs/refunding me eventually but either way I would never use this seller again. Slow delivery I can just about deal with but neglecting to respond to any correspondence just shows an absolute lack of regard for the customer and makes me fuming!
On a more positive note though, this whole debacle meant I ended up getting the wigs elsewhere and I have been delighted with the product and the service. Even though I had found a couple of US based sites that sold the same wig and would ship to the UK, I decided not to go with them as time has been ticking on while this woman has fannied around. I thought a UK site might speed up the process so I went with www.annabelleswigs.co.uk . I was aware of Annabelle’s from Ministry of Burlesque forum as Claire who runs the site is a poster on MoB so I thought I would give them a try. If nothing else I knew she would be contactable if anything went wrong! I ended up calling the shop as I had a few questions before I bought and I ended up having a lovely chat with Claire and bought two wigs and some weft extensions (the idea being I could use the wefts if I needed to bulk out the wig and I also had a spare that I could use if the original went wrong!). I had them sent to my day job address and, after ordering on Friday, when I came in yesterday they had arrived (I think they came on Monday while I was off).
The wigs are gorgeous quality, they feel so silky and full – I may not even need the extra wefts (though it’s good to have them just in case). So last night I cracked on with styling one for my Jackalope. I have a source photograph of what I want it to look like and a few basic tips I have picked up from trawling Google and Cosplay.com but apart from that I’m on my own. I have wanted to have a go at wig styling for so long now but when I sat with my wig pinned to the stand and my tail comb in hand I have to admit I felt a certain amount of trepidation. It is possible I could be in the process of ruining a perfectly good wig here! On the other hand; nothing ventured, nothing gained, and since I don’t have the opportunity to go on a wig styling course self-taught will have to be the order of the day. The style I have picked for the wig is not something that involves a great deal of advanced technique and as it is a messy style there is plenty of room for mistakes – pinpoint accuracy is not paramount. However, I have been taking it slowly, working on the wig patiently and in very small sections. So far it is taking shape in roughly the way I want it to but I know that the parts at the front on the brow and the sides will be the hardest bit and also the most visible (I started at the bottom-back so that any mistakes I made whilst finding my stroke would be hidden under the rest of the wig!).
So wish me luck with the wig styling! I am taking pictures as I go and I will post them all into the blog with some step by step notes once the piece is finished. I found wig styling tutorials and advice a little thin on the ground so I want to share my experiences and let people know what worked for me and what didn’t. Also, if anyone has any wig styling advice they would like to share with me I will be all ears!
‘Til next time
X
Emerald
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